Jane McCabe’s new book on Indian migrants
Last Thursday saw the successful launch of Jane McCabe’s new book, Race, Tea and Colonial Resettlement: Imperial Families, Interrupted at the Hocken Collections. Launched by Centre Co-director, Angela Wanhalla, this monograph (published by Bloomsbury) explores the experiences of the “Kalimpong Kids”, mixed-race children of tea planters in India, from their missionary-run boarding school, to their migration to New Zealand. Jane is descended of one of the children, and a number of other descendants came to the launch.
Dr Jane McCabe
Jane, who works in the Department of History and Art History is a keen member of the Centre for Research on Colonial Culture. A Marsden Grant recipient, she is now researching land and inheritance in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Dr Kate Stevens and Associate Professor Will Sweetman
Kalimpong Kids descendants
Emeritus Professor Erik Olssen, Dr Jonathan West, and Associate Professor Annabel Cooper.
PhD Scholarship in New Zealand History
Centre member, Dr. Angela Wanhalla, is looking for a suitable candidate to take up a PhD scholarship attached to her Royal Society of New Zealand Rutherford Discovery Fellowship on ‘The Politics of Intimacy in New Zealand History’. Applications are invited from suitably qualified students, who hold a minimum of a BA (Hons) or equivalent, interested in working on an aspect of the history of marriage in New Zealand. Potential areas of investigation include, but are not limited to: marital violence; adultery, bigamy; arranged marriage; co-habitation; marital property; interfaith relationships.
The scholarship includes a $25,000 per year stipend, plus tuition fees. The tenure of the scholarship is for three years full-time, with a start date of 1 July 2016
For further information please contact Angela Wanhalla (angela.wanhalla@otago.ac.nz)
Centre member wins Ernest Scott Prize 2015
Congratulations to Professor Tom Brooking whose Richard Seddon, King of God’s Own: The Life and Times of New Zealand’s Longest-Serving Prime Minister was co-winner of the Ernest Scott Prize for 2015, with Alan Atkinson’s The Europeans in Australia, Vol 3: Nation. Tom is the second CROCC member to have won this prize awarded for “the most distinguished contribution to the history of Australia or New Zealand or to the history of colonisation”. Angela Wanhalla won in 2014, and Centre director, Tony Ballantyne, was shortlisted in 2013. Click here for the publisher’s info on Richard Seddon.
Two MA scholarships offered
Are you interested in New Zealand history? Are you looking for scholarship funding? If you have a BA (hons) first class in History or Māori Studies then you’re in luck. Two Centre members, Michael Stevens and Angela Wanhalla, are seeking applicants for MA scholarships attached to their respective Royal Society of New Zealand research projects. See the details below for further information.
MA Scholarship in New Zealand History
History or background of award
The scholarship is attached to a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship project led by Dr. Angela Wanhalla (Department of History and Art History, University of Otago) on ‘The Politics of Intimacy in New Zealand History’, and funded by the Royal Society of New Zealand.
Purpose of award
Applications are invited from suitably qualified students interested in working on an aspect of private life and the law, particularly associated with the governance and control of marriage in New Zealand, during the nineteenth and/or twentieth centuries. Potential areas of investigation include, but are not limited to: marital violence; bigamy; arranged marriage; customary marriage and the law; cross-cultural relationships and the law; Māori marriage; co-habitation; marital property.
Selection criteria
The successful applicant will have a BA honours (first class), or equivalent in History. A background in New Zealand history is preferred.
Number of awards offered
One
Value
$16,000 stipend, plus tuition fees
Tenure of award
One year, or two years part-time.
Start date:
You may begin the thesis at any stage during 2015, or by 1 July 2016 at the latest.
Further Information
Please send a cover letter, a copy of your academic record, a thesis proposal, and a sample piece of writing to Angela Wanhalla (angela.wanhalla@otago.ac.nz) by 22 June.
MA Scholarship in New Zealand History
History or background of award
The scholarship is attached to a Marsden Fast-Start project led by Dr. Michael Stevens (Department of History and Art History, University of Otago) entitled ‘Between Local and Global: A World History of Bluff’, which is funded by the Royal Society of New Zealand.
Purpose of award
Applications are invited from suitably qualified students interested in working on an aspect of maritime history, ideally with a focus on southern New Zealand and/or with a strong Māori focus, during the nineteenth and/or twentieth centuries. Potential areas of investigation include, but are not limited to: cargo handling; port development (e.g. reclamation; pilotage; built environment); boat-building; commercial fishing; crew culture; marriage patterns; mahinga kai; gendered occupations; intergenerational family businesses; associational culture; religion; class conflict (e.g. strikes and lockouts).
Selection criteria
The successful applicant will have a BA honours (first class) or equivalent, in History or Māori Studies. A background in New Zealand history is strongly preferred.
Number of awards offered
One.
Value
$16,000 stipend (paid in monthly installments), plus tuition fees.
Tenure of award
One year.
Start date:
You may begin the thesis during any stage of 2015, or by 1 March 2016 at the latest.
Further Information
Please send a cover letter, a copy of your academic record, a thesis proposal, and a sample piece of writing to Michael Stevens (michael.stevens@otago.ac.nz) by 22 June.
Kalimpong Reunion
A reunion was held today (28/11/14) at St Margarets College of descendants of migrants from the St Andrews Colonial Homes. The Homes, now known as the Dr Graham Homes, made up a boarding school in Kalimpong (West Bengal, India) mainly for children of indigenous women and European tea planters. Set up by Reverent Dr. John Anderson Graham in 1900, this Christian school educated the “Anglo-Indian” children, some of whom as teenagers were then sent to New Zealand between 1908 and 1938. The women worked as domestic servants, and the men as farm labourers.
Professor Tony Ballantyne addresses the reunion on the significance of Jane McCabe’s thesis.
Jane McCabe
The “Kalimpong Kids” were the subject of Jane McCabe‘s PhD thesis in the Department of History and Art History, supervised by Professor Tony Ballantyne and Dr Angela Wanhalla, both Centre members. The Centre has also supported the reunion, organised by Jane. About 65 descendants and family are attending and they have two days of planned events ahead of them.
Jane McCabe is herself a descendant of one of the original migrants, and her research involved contacting and interviewing some of the families. Her PhD was examined recently and judged “exceptional” by the examiners. Check out her website to find out more about her work.
Launch of “Richard Seddon: King of God’s Own”
A great crowd filled the Hocken.
Erik Olssen, with by Sharon Dell and Tom Brooking [left], launch the new book on Richard Seddon.
Hocken Librarian, Sharon Dell, introduced the event, and was followed by Emeritus Professor Erik Olssen who formally launched the book. As Erik pointed out, there had not been a comprehensive biography since R.M. Burdon’s 1955 biography on New Zealand’s most successful Premier perhaps due to the the giant shadow that Seddon cast. Tom’s biography opens up considerable new perspectives and information on the man.
Budding new historians listening to the master.
Tom Brooking then discussed the topic of his research, recounting Seddon’s many achievements and his ability to connect with Māori, with workers, and the general public. However he was also a man of his own times, and his imperialist jingoism and anti-Chinese sentiment would not meet with such popular acclaim today.
At 584 pages this is a substantial book, but also one destined to be a classic within New Zealand historiography.
“A World History of Bluff”
Dr Michael Stevens.
Last year CROCC member, Dr Michael Stevens won a Fast Start Marsden Award to research how the Southland port of Bluff connected with the rest of the world, and how this impacted on the town (and vice-versa), in particular the local Kāi Tahu people. As the Royal Society stated, “As a “Bluffie” of Kai Tahu descent, Dr Stevens is ideally placed to carry out a research project that is meaningful to both academics and the local inhabitants.” In order to share his on-going research, Michael has created a new website “A World History of Bluff” with an associated Facebook Page.
New Biography on Richard Seddon
Richard Seddon was a colossal figure in New Zealand politics up to his death in 1906. His Liberal Party was New Zealand’s first modern political party; his government introduced old age pensions and votes for women, as well as an industrial conciliation and arbitration system. Seddon was able, for much of his time as Prime Minister, to gain the support from a wide range of the political spectrum, at the same time that the rest of the world marvelled at the country’s “socialist” experiments.
It has been almost 60 years since an authoritative biography of Seddon has appeared, R.M. Burdon’s King Dick. Until now! CROCC member, Professor Tom Brooking’s latest book Richard Seddon: King of God’s Own has just been published by Penguin Books, and gives us fresh insights into “the Life and Times of New Zealand’s Longest-serving Prime Minister”. Congratulations, Tom.
Dr Angela Wanhalla wins Ernest Scott Prize
At the Australian Historical Association conference in Brisbane last night, 
CROCC member Dr Angela Wanhalla was awarded the Ernest Scott Prize for History. This prize is awarded annually to the book judged to be the most distinguished contribution to the History of Australia or New Zealand or to the history of colonization published in the previous year.
Matters of the Heart: A History of Interracial Marriage in New Zealand was published by Auckland University Press.
As the judges commented “Angela Wanhalla’s ground breaking history of interracial relationships in New Zealand across two hundred years utilises not only the usual range of church and state records but also personal papers, family and local histories to track the lives of couples whose relationship was sustained over a period of time. While Maori women left little trace for the historian, Wanhalla uses analysis of images, particularly photography, to overcome some of the gaps and silences in the record. She takes a broad view of coupling which incorporates common law relationships, Maori ceremonies and Christian marriages sanctioned by the State and also takes account of various debates and legislative action in relation to marriage over time.
“Wanhalla draws on the recent work by anthropologists and historians such as Ann Laura Stoler to explore the history of emotion and sentiment as central to these encounters. She historicises the specific context in which these are expressed and how they changed over time in relation to the society and demographics. She notes that interracial relationships in New Zealand have often been used as evidence of ‘gentle colonialism’ but while her study of intimacy makes an important contribution to overturning simplistic paradigms of race relations on the frontier and beyond, Wanhalla still emphasises the framework of gendered and racial power struggles within which these relationships operated.”
Congratulations to Angela for her ongoing success!
